he sat on the floor with his back leaned onto the arcade cabinet, one of his legs was resting on the body of a guy which Ryan had knocked unconscious beside him. The room still smelled with the smell of smoke and spilled energy drinks. Fluorescent lights buzzed around the room.

Ryan pushed himself up slowly, muscles were still aching because of the last ten days of hell. He wiped his knuckles with the back of his hoodie to clean them off and slowly settled his mask back onto its right place, keeping his features hidden very well.

Then, he slowly asked the system to show him the rewards which he got in the last ten days. 'System, inventory.'

[Yes, host.]

[stat-pill : 3X]

The panel containing his inventory slowly materialized itself in front of him, containing three small red capsules which were sitting in a row. The same pills which he had eaten on the second day of his journey.

A small smile curled up on his lips. "I'll save these for the time when I really need them the most." he thought, the scenes of his today's fight flashed in his mind once again. 'I can handle the minions easily, I'll need the strength when I fight the Higher-Ups of the gang.'

He closed the system as he put the hoodie's cap on, checking that if his mask is covering his face properly. He took a nice deep breath, the city's noise leaking in through the cracked windows of the hub.

Ryan slowly walked out of the games-hub room, back into the alley, the air here felt colder than before.

He started moving fast, trying to stay in the dark shadows of the tall objects near him until he reached the bus stop that would take him back to his society. He didn't want anyone to notice who he was or recognize him.

At his apartment, the sound of the creaking old fan filled the entire insides of the room. He slowly turned the stove on and made himself a packet of instant noodles like he always did after the harsh training—quick, hot and energy boosting.

He ate it as he stood up and let the steam fog the tiny window next to him for a while, his mind was thinking about the rewards which he's getting, suddenly got the itch to train more and harder than ever.

His phone which was kept on the table suddenly buzzed. He had left it at home this noon when he went to the hideout, the screen lit up with dozens of messages of an unknown group chat. Group chat created: "Crew." He frowned as he clicked it open.

The chat name was simple and impossible to ignore, the first message was from Maya:

"Welcome to the crew chat, you both. Use this chat to send plans and updates. No leaks or something, okay—Maya."

A string of small icons followed—a thumbs-up from Arthur, then there was a message of his own number which confirmed that Maya had added him to it.

'Yeah, so she actually did this,' he thought, half-amused, half proud. 'She made this group, lol. Are we actually a crew now?'

The system suddenly echoed inside of his mind.

[System Notice: Host status updated — Crew Leader: Ryan West. Current mission: War with West High Crew.]

Ryan's grin disappeared as his expression turned serious. The words of the system left a huge remark on his mind, war, crew, leader—these were not small things for him. The kind of labels that would change how the people around you think of you.

'Yeah...' he thought, jaw tightened as his fists clenched. 'I'll take the responsibility and will never let any of my friends get hurt because of me. This is my fight, I involved myself in it... And I'll not sacrifice any of my people.'

[System: Affirmative, Host. Leadership requires decisions, planning, and protection of allies. Guidance will be provided.]

His thumb slowly swiped the screen as he read the next message. The next text was also from Maya.

"First meeting of our crew will be tomorrow, Room no 212 during the lunch break. Be there."

Arthur had only read the message, there was no kind of reply from his side—just the little "Seen" next to his name. Ryan typed in the chat quickly. "Okay, see you there tomorrow then."

He turned the group chat off as he kept his mobile back on the table, taking another bite of his instant noodles. Slowly moved towards his bed and let his mind get filled with thoughts about the upcoming war and the crew stuff.

His stomach started to hurt a bit, it was the after-effect of today's fight in the hub. But it was a good ache, it reminded him about his victory over one of the hideouts.

The next morning came as he made his way towards the school, when he reached the school gate his eyes became sharp, scanning everywhere to see if there's someone who had noticed him yesterday.

He didn't feel anything weird as he slowly walked to his classroom, slowly entered it and his eyes fell towards the direction of his seat, Arthur was already there.

Ryan slowly walked towards his seat and sat beside Arthur—arms folded, head down and expression was unreadable as always. Arthur didn't look towards Ryan as his voice came flat. "Did you go to one of their hideouts yesterday?"

Ryan's body froze, sweat started dwelling up his forehead as he looked at Arthur. "How do... you know about that?"

Arthur shifted his gaze to him. "You don't have to know about that, answer what I asked."

Ryan gulped hard, voice came out a bit shaky. "Yeah... I went there."

Arthur scanned Ryan completely. "It's fine this time because you're in one piece. Don't forget that if you had got captured, it would have gave them an upper hand."

Ryan gave a quick nod. "Yeah, next time I'll not be this reckless."

Arthur's gaze shifted back to the front. "Yes, you shouldn't. This is not something where you can do whatever you want, one wrong move and the whole thing is done for."

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